Art and Life: Three Photographers with a Different Take

jen lemen — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:37:12 -0600

In my meanderings this week, I stumbled upon three offerings from artists who each in her own way are reaching for the one true moment where art and life intersect.

Artist and photographer Gayla Trail uploaded an exquisite set of photographs this week, full of raw beauty and irony. This particular set captures her love for a particular place as well as a critical distance. Gayla describes her work on her design studio site Fluffco:

My photos are often described as capturing a feeling of isolation, and while that is there, I am also interested in exploring a contemplative form of solitude or most especially public solitude of the kind one would feel when walking down a street alone or that feeling you get while sitting on a street curb contemplating a crack in the sidewalk as the world passes by. Sometimes those moments are sad and express a withdrawal from the social world but they are also tender moments of aloneness that we all experience at one time or another.

Gayla also minds the store at SuperFantastico with partner Davin Risk. Here's one of my favorite offerings this week entitled "Low Resolution:"

I had the honor of meeting Gayla this summer at the Blogher conference and was struck by the strength of her values--especially when it comes to understanding her particular work as an artist, as an activist and as an advocate as a maker/dweller in a particular place. Sharing her photos online is an extension of that ethos; somehow Gayla manages to capture the truth of something without compromising herself as a creator or a consumer.

Another artist calling out for the art of real life is Cincinnati-based artist Lucrecer Braxton. I recently stumbled on Lucrecer's community based Art Slam--an online invitation to reveal your journal pages created with a specific prompt in mind. Weekly prompts go up on Fridays and participants publish their pages in the Art Slam Flickr group. Lucrecer aims to encourage anyone with a journal to participate, so the emphasis becomes your life more than some kind of studied perfection. This page entitled "Bird" from the group highlights the kind of simple energy that handwritten journals convey.

Hula Seventy, co-founder of PhotoBooth Friday posts her favorite images from photobooth sessions recent and long-ago. Here's a medium perfectly designed to capture the moment. With that timer going, there's no faking the mood of the minute. Browse through these tags on Flickr to see this timeless art form at it's finest. Here's one of Hula Seventy's recent treasures, a photobooth picture of her grandmother. Story here.

BlogHer - Art and Life: Three Photographers with a Different Take - Comments

Art and Life: Three Photographers with a Different Take